Poems about "spring greens" in the Kokinshu (Japanese Poetry)

Kokinshu: Poems about Spring Greens 

Picking young greens (wakana) in the fields and eating these was a romantic custom of the palace that formed part of the New Year festivities. The popular belief was that eating herbs which had withstood the cold of winter would lead to increased health and vitality. These greens were normally given to family members and friends as a wish for a long and healthy life. The plucking was done on the first ne day in the New Year (子, one of the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac), after which a feast was held. This was an originally Japanese custom; the custom of eating nanagusa kayu (rice porridge containing seven different herbs), which was held on the 7th day of the first month, has come over from China and is first documented for 911, so after these Kokinshu poems were written.

[Seri or Japanese parsley, one of the herbs plucked in the first month]

A famous poem about this custom that has been included in the Hyakunin Isshu as Poem 15, is by Emperor Koko (830-887). See the discussion of this poem in my HIS translation. Here I only repeat the translation:

for your sake
I went into the springtime fields
to pick young greens
while on my robe-sleeves
the snow kept falling

kimi ga tame | haru no no ni idete | wakana tsumu | waga koromode ni | yuki wa furitsutsu (KKS 21)

Including this poem by Emperor Koko, the Kokinshu contains five waka about "spring greens". One of the best is the following anonymous poem:

guardian of the Beacon Fire field
on Kasuga Meadows,
go outside and look!
how many days to go
before we may pluck spring greens?

kasugano no | tobiji no nomori | idete mi yo | ima ikuka arite | wakana tsumitemu (KKS 18)

春日野の飛ぶ火の野守出でて見よ今幾日ありて若菜摘みてむ

Kasuga Meadows (or Kasuga Plain) is part of Kasuga Park in Nara. Already in the Manyoshu, this location is mentioned as a popular place to pick spring greens. ”Beacon Fire Field" is "Tobuhi" (leaping flames) and may refer to a place where military signal fires were lighted (as the times were mainly peaceful, probably to inform the capital of important events), but also to the burning of the fields by farmers. This poem is often combined with the next one, which is also anonymous.

deep in the mountains
even from the pine trees
snow has yet to vanish
while in the fields of the capital
they are picking spring greens

miyama ni wa | matsu no yuki dani | kienaku ni | miyako wa nobe no | wakana tsumikeri (KKS 19)

み山には松の雪だに消えなくに都は野辺の若菜摘みけり

The following poem is more complex: "haru" is a kakekotoba (both "spring" and "to draw") and it links the preface "bending the catalpa bow I draw" to the main statement "spring rains fell today."

like shots from a catalpa bow
the spring rains
fell today
if they also fall tomorrow
we can pluck spring greens

azusa yumi | oshite harusame | kyo furinu | asu sae furaba | wakana tsumitemu
(KKS 20)

梓弓おしてはるさめ今日降りぬ明日さへ降らば若菜摘みてむ

The idea is that the warm spring rains will moisten the soil and bring forth the new shoots of the spring herbs.

The final waka is by Ki no Tsurayuki and carries the title "Written by order of the Emperor." That must have been the reigning sovereign, Emperor Daigo. It may have been a screen poem, inspired by an painting on a standing screen. The first three lines are the preface (jo) and as link serves the kakekotoba "furi", to wave, and "furihaete", expressly (I have left it out in English as it doesn't add anything to the meaning).

are they on their way
to pick young greens
in the fields of Kasugano -
those girls beckoning to each other
with their pure white sleeves?

kasugano no | wakana tsumi ni ya | shirotae no | sode furihaete | hito no yukuramu　（SKK 22)

春日野の若菜摘みにや白妙の袖ふりはへて人のゆくらむ

Abbreviations: KKS = Kokinshu; HIS= Hyakunin Isshu; MYS = Manyoshu; SKKS = Shin Kokinshu

Translations:
The Ise Stories, by Joshua S. Mostow and Royall Tyler (University of Hawai'i Press, 2010);
Kokinshu, A Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern by Laurel Rasplica Rodd and Mary Catherine Henkenius (University of Tokyo Press, 1984);
Kokin Wakashu, The First Imperial Anthology of Japanese Poetry, by Helen Craig McCullough (Stanford University Press, 1985);
One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each, by Peter MacMIllan (Penguin Classics);
Traditional Japanese Literature, an Anthology, Beginnings to 1600, ed. Haruo Shirane (Columbia U.P., 2007)
Traditional Japanese Poetry, An Anthology, by Steven D. Carter (Stanford University Press, 1991);
A Waka Anthology, by Edward A. Cranston (2 vols, Stanford U.P. 1993 and 2006);

Studies:
Brocade by Night: Kokin Wakashu and the Court Style in Japanese Classical Poetry, by Helen Craig McCullough (Stanfors U.P., 1985)
The Cambridge History of Japanese Literature, edited by Shirane / Suzuki / Lurie (Cambridge U.P., 2016)
History of Japanese Literature by Jun'ichi Konishi (3 vols, Princeton U.P., 1991)
Japan and the Culture of the Four Seasons, by Haruo Shirane (Columbia U.P., 2012)
Japanese Court Poetry, by Robert H Brower and Earl Miner (London 1962)
The Making of Shinkokinshu, by Robert N. Huey (Harvard U.P., 2002)
Pictures of the Heart, The Hyakunin Isshu in Word and Image by Joshua S. Mostow (University of Hawai'i Press, 1996);
Seeds in the Heart, Japanese Literature from the Earliest Times to the late Sixteenth Century, by Donald Keene (Columbia U.P. 1999)
Utakotoba Utamakura Daijiten, Kubota Jun and Baba Akiko (Kadokawa Shoten)
Utamakura, Allusion, and Intertextuality in Traditional Japanese Poetry, by Edward Kamens (Yale U.P., 1997)
Waka as Things, Waka and Things, by Edward Kamens (Yale U.P., 2017)
Waka bungaku jiten, by Ariyoshi Tamotsu (Ofusha)

Original texts:
Kokin Wakashu (Shogakkan, 1994);
Shinkokin Wakashu (Shogakkan, 1995);
Man'yoshu (4 vols, Shogakkan, 1996)

Online:
Japanese Text Initiative (Virginia University Library)
One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each (Hyakunin Isshu), translation and comments at this website



Photo from Wikipedia.

Japanese Poetry Index